Scripps Sunday #23
What are trees good for?
(What are the cedars of Lebanon good for)?
Psalm 104
10 You
make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between
the hills,
11 giving drink to every wild animal;
the wild asses
quench their thirst.
12 By the streams the birds of the air have their
habitation;
they sing among the
branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is
satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the
cattle,
and plants for
people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,
15 and wine to gladden the
human heart,
oil to make the face shine,
and bread to
strengthen the human heart.
16 The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly,
the cedars of
Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has its
home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a
refuge for the coneys.
9-verse menagerie:
wild donkeys, birds of the air, cattle, people, cedars of Lebanon,
storks, fir trees, wild goats, coneys.
(Don’t know what a coney is? Coming back to that.)
This passage is about God’s providence for his entire
creation (humans included). Note focus
on wild.
So what are trees good for?
Nesting for birds. Didn’t see
that coming!
Take-homes for our community as taught to us through
nature, in the Scriptures:
1)
Diversity is good. (v24 “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In
wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.”) Diversity, in creation and in our own
communities, reflects the creative glory of God. A tree is good because it is a
member of a community. Each member of an ecological community (and sociological
community!) is valuable simply because of its communal existence. The community is greater because of its
presence.
2)
Value transcends utility. God’s economy is not our economy. Psalm 104 reminds us to expand our
accounting. What has been created is
valuable because it is. My discipline,
conservation biology, makes that case of intrinsic value of species. They are
good not because of what they do, but simply because they are. This is reflected in scripture. After each creative day in Genesis 1, we are
not told what creation is “good for;” rather, we are simply (and repeatedly)
told that creation is “good.” Every member of creation, human and non-human
alike, has been created by God and is intrinsically valuable. “Good for” is the wrong question to ask.
Which brings us back to the coney. The Psalmist would be
hard-pressed to highlight a more obscure creature. Also known as hyraxes, dassies, and
rock-badgers, these are members of the family Procaviidae, (fun fact!) are also
the closest living relative of elephants!
These inconspicuous pint-sized mammals dwell in inaccessible
crags, are decidedly unkosher, scurrying about, munching on flowers, and doing
nothing that could be realistically described as useful. Yet, God loves them and cares for them right
alongside his image-bearing humans, his magisterial cedars of Lebanon, and his
wily wild goats.
So, in seasons when you’re not feeling particularly
productive, when you’re wondering what you’re “good for,” when your inbox grows
at a rate that seems to defy the laws of physics, when life feels like a
maddening hamster wheel – consider the coney, who runs in no wheel yet is
infinitely cared for by the infinite creator.
Prayer:
Lord, when our to-do list grows faster than our ta-done
list, may we remember the rock badger, the footnote the of the foothills that
you love unconditionally
When imposter syndrome crushes our confidence, may we harken
to the hyrax, the asterisk of the alpine, that you care for providentially.
When we fail to live up to our elephantine expectations, may
we consider the coney, who reminds us that we never have to earn our keep or
prove our value to you.
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